Winner Takes it All, the Chronicle of the Mike Zacharias Fight Club
by Challopea
Summary: This is a stupid brain cannon. Everybody was slightly OOC. I want to write a romantic story in the backdrop of a fight club. The theme might be too cliched-boy and girl meet, fall in love, but they are very clumsy. They fight, break-up, fight even more and they get back together. I tried my best-hope you can enjoy it. Either way, please leave me a review so I can improve!
1. Chapter 1--Celebration

Lifting the beer mug in his left hand, Levi stared boringly above the long wood table, over the heads of the noisy half-drunk crowd, into the mid of the smoke-fogged bar. Their routine post fight celebration of his newest win and the most recent success of the Mike Zacharius Fight Club.

Levi hated celebration in general. It made him uneasy. But he did enjoy relaxing into the old sofa at the back of the room, his right arm trailing casually at its top right above where Hanji firmly planted herself, and watching her laughing and joking with everyone around the table.

He never understood the fuss. It started after the first guy from the Scout Legion, grumbling about the attention the new kid had got, called Levi out for a fight. It was a quick win, but the dumb guys just refused to take the message. They kept on calling him out, one after another, as if losing was nothing, and by losing, they actually proved themselves.

Fighting for no reason was a stupid idea to Levi. From where he came from, there would always be a reason or a purpose for a fight. You fight, your win or you lose. Winner takes it all. It was that simple.

Levi would be really pissed off by these stupid fights, if it had not been Hanji, who was always so excited about them that she could not keep herself from jumping up and down, cheering, laughing, hugging, and buzzing around him.

Mike was the other reason that he agreed to tolerate the stupid matches. Quick to see the lucrative opportunities, the damn Viking giant started collecting fees and taking bets right after the first fight. So far, it made Mike quite a small fortune and an equally handsome amount for him.

For that, he had to thank Hanji, his self-appointed, his very own, personal 'agent, coach, strategist, cheerleader and corner girl', as how she liked to put it. Unwilling to let Mike to walk away with all the profit, Hanji was tough with her negotiations from day one, and kept on pestering the huge Viking for more share on his part.

"We want seventy-five percent," Her voice was calm and steady.

Mike shook his head at her demand and retorted, as if disbelievingly, "What? Seventy-five percent? Are you nuts?"

The last three words tipped Levi off. Levi did not like people calling Hanji nuts. Everybody in the Scout Legion knew.

For the first time that night, his thin black brows started to knot, his nostrils began to widen, the white on his eye balls slowly disappeared, those long fingers of his right hand tapping impatiently and angrily into the worn-out leather on the back of the sofa.

Mike's shoulders tensed up and he scooted a couple of inches back into his seat, almost reluctantly.

Levi's brows relaxed at the sight. Mike had been fidgeting all night. From the way he pleaded, 'can we talk about it tomorrow?' Levi knew what he had in mind and where he wanted to spend the big swaddle of money he had pocketed that night. But Hanji just refused to let him go.

"No. It is now or never." her voice firm but patient.

Levi almost chuckled at how well Hanji 'manhandles' the big guy. It was not that she had any clue of the desires that had been burning like hot coal in a certain part of Mike. If she knew, she would have blushed. Hanji was never comfortable with such topics, and they could not be any further away from her thoughts. But she was quick to see that the whole negotiation business started to getting onto Mike's nerve and wanted to make the most of it.

"Come on, Hanji! Be realistic! Everybody wants their share, the Military Police, the Commander, even Erwin, our squad leader. There was not much left for me. " Mike pleaded, his shoulders slouching and his body bent even further forward. From the few quick side glances he shot towards his direction, Levi realized that the big guy was just changing strategy.

Smart.

Levi moved the hand resting at the top of the sofa to Hanji's right shoulder and casually caressed the muscles there. In general, Hanji did not like being touched. It took them several months before she finally warmed up to his "casual" touches.

But this time Levi did it on purpose, and Hanji got the message.

'Not much? You could have fooled me. The mother of that girl of yours keeps on telling everyone about all the money you lavish on them!' Hanji's face brightened up by her "yes, gotcha" expression, her finger pointing at Mike's face, her voice playful, and her body relaxing even further into the hand at her shoulder.

Mike might be smart, but his girl was definitely smarter.

'So what? A man can do whatever he wants!' Mike blurted out.

'Ha! Can you do it without our money? With that amount of money, she'd better be one of the top courtesans in the Capital city," her eyes twinkling, her body bending forward her arms holding onto an imaginary hoop skirt, mimicking a fake courtesy at the high court, "servicing only the Lords and the King!"

The entire table burst into hilarious laughs.

"Enou…" before Levi could finish the word, Mike had already jumped out of his seat. The blood vessels at his temples thickened, his fists clenched at his sides. He took a step forward, pounding at the table with both hands and all the strength he had, yelling at the top of his lungs, "she is not a whore!"

Hanji had never seen Mike behaved like this. Her face turned white and her body shook, shrinking, leaning slightly into Levi's. But she did not notice-all her attention was on Mike.

"Enough!" The first word Levi said the night. Before it was completely out of his mouth, Levi had already sprung onto his feet, his entire movement smooth and agile like a tiger.

"Mike, sit down." his voice was with restraint, but the muscles in his body were tensing up, his knuckles cracking.

Mike did not budge. His fists were still on the table, his huge body still crouching forward.

Dumb guy was pissed off. Levi rolled his eyes towards the ceiling and added calmly, "please."

A very atypical thing for Levi to do.

Mike was surprised but he knew better than taking it for granted. He straightened his back, and took a step back, shaking the strain from all the pounding off his wrists. "She called my girl a hooker." His voice was calmer but still sizzling with anger.

"You called her nuts." Levi pointed out, his voice cold as ice, eyes staring intimidatingly at Mike.

Mike stared back. After a few moments, he grunted, "Fine!", and threw his arms up into the air. The chair behind him thudded as his huge body plunged back into it.

The muscles on Levi's body started to relax, but he did not sit down. Instead, he turned to his right side, pulled Hanji up onto her feet, and softly demanded, "Shitty four eyes, apologize."

"Hmm...What?" Hanji tried to swirl her head around to look at his face, but the hand on her neck would not allow it, firmly forcing her head into a bow.

Hanji got the message, and mumbled reluctantly, "I was just joking...Sorry, Mike, I should not have called...yah, hey, Levi, what are you doing? That really hurts!"

"Tsk." Levi released the hand on her neck, and pulled her back into the sofa with him, his right arm swung firmly around her waist. Hanji squirmed a little but soon she gave up.

She got the message.

He relaxed the arm and raised the hand up to Hanji's head, ruffling that bird nest of hair. It was messy, oily. Levi almost sighed. Hanji hated washing her hair. The low quality soap issued by the military scathed her scalp and left tiny red bumps itching all over her forehead and behind her ears.

One or two bottles of the expensive shampoo from that fancy hair salon in the Capital city would do the magic. He could almost smell the strawberry scent at his nostrils. Just imagine how it mingled with Hanji's natural body scent, the one that sent his heart racing and his blood vessels throbbing every time she walked out of the shower. Levi sighed, that was the reason he agreed to this fucking re-negotiation. They needed the money.

He tugged at the end of her messy ponytail and it sent Hanji into giggles. Realizing that she forgot that they were in public and everybody around the table was looking at her, shocked by her "unnatural response", she leaned forward, cleared her throat and claimed, "we want seventy five percent".

"What?" Mike could not believe that after all the drama, the outward show of anger, Hanji still would not give up.

"We want seventy five percent." Hanji patted the hand on her shoulder, and repeated calmly.

"Are you kidding?" Mike's voice still angry but Levi could tell that his patience was wearing thin.

"No. We are not. No Levi, no match. Simple, right? We want seventy five percent." Hanji insisted.

"No way!" After a long pause and no response from Hanji, he sighed, and gritted the following words between his teeth, "sixty percent."

"Seventy three." Hanji said with a smirk on her face, her feet tapping lightheartedly on the wooden floor.

"Are you …" Mike almost blurted out the word before he caught the shuddering look Levi shot across the table, "what is the difference between it and seventy five? Absolutely no sincerity. Let me show you an example. Sixty three percent."

"That was only one percent more!" Hanji laughed, clapping her hands, "Don't take me for a fool, Mikey, seventy one."

"Two-thirds." Mike extended his hand across the table and declared, "take it or not, that is it."

"We will take it!" Hanji blurted out, "Deal!", slapping into Mike's waiting hand.

That was what they had ever really wanted. Hanji jumped up onto her feet, her hands waving up and down, her own little victory dance. Levi had to pull her back into the couch so it would not agitate Mike any further.

But he was too late. The huge menacing Viking giant suddenly let out a short grunt.

Hanji was startled. He could feel her shoulder tensed up under his fingers. He wasn't doing any better. The revengeful flames burning in the back of Mike's eyes sent chills down his spine.


	2. Chapter 2--The Fight

Mike was not a person who handed his opponents a victory over on a silver platter without biting back.

"So two thirds. Hmm. Hanji, good job, very nicely done! For the determination and hard work I admire you," rubbing the stubs around his chin, Mike went on with a twinkle in his eyes, "and forgive you for calling my girl names."

"Oh, that was all part of the negotiation, ha, haha," Hanji replied uneasily with a short nervous laugh, "I did not really mean it." The muscles on her shoulder twitched under his hand. It made Levi extremely uncomfortable, and he started shifting his feet back and forth impatiently.

It amused Mike, whose eyes were fixated on them. He chuckled, but kept on asking, "Come on, Hanji, you are so damn good and argued so damn well. But, what's in it for YOU?"

Hanji blushed and lowered her head, her eyes darting to the left and to the right, before she finally straightened her upper body and answered with a smile, "Levi is my friend and I am helping him!"

"Friend?" Mike let out a short and disbelieving laugh, and shook his head, "Ain't I also your friend? Why aren't you doing it for me? Friend?! Give me a break, Hanji! What's your share in it?"

Hanji's face blushed, her hand reaching out to her face, fidgeting and shifting the gold frame with tinted lenses on her nose, the one Levi gave to her. The first item Levi bought after they got their cuts from Mike's proceeds. It cost him a fortune, but she just loved it.

"The glasses?" Mike sneered at Hanji's hand, "come on, Hanji! Ain't that an expensive gift from Levi for your birthday? Isn't it just like the ones that I give my girl? Aren't you the one who said that you are his agent and partner in crime? Come on! As a partner, where is your share? What makes you different from the girl you accused of being a whore?"

The word "whore" sent Hanji's entire body into shaking, her teeth teetering. Hanji's had been called many things. But never that word. All the hard work she had put in over the years and all the life-endangering battles she had fought were all vanquished by that abasing word. Hanji's was shocked, angry and humiliated.

Not knowing what to do, Levi pulled her into his arms and tried to calm her. But she struggled with all the strength she had to get away as if his hold was shackles and chains that were choking her to death.

Reluctantly, Levi let her go. Instead, he took her trembling hands into his and patted them gently. Hanji started to calm down.

Mike, refusing to let her have it, repeated the words, "Come on, Hanji, what makes you so different from the girl you called a whore?"

The word sent Hanji over the edge again. She shook Levi's hands off her wrists, pounded her fists on the table and shouted with all the air in her lungs, "the difference is that I don't fucking sleep with him to get what he gave me! I never fucking did! Did you hear it, you fucking idiot?"

Levi's face started to burn with flames. An only child raised by a mother who always complained that she deserved a son, Hanji hated the fact that she was a girl. She did not feel comfortable being treated like a girl, and shunned physical contact from all, even the girls.

Levi knew it from the beginning and had cursed it ever since. The guys were always curious about which base he had made to. Levi never talked about it, brushing off any question thrown his way with a shrug, yet secretly cursing whoever asked the question with the most blasphemous words he knew.

Levi was patient and he did not want to rush things between them. Besides, they made a lot of progress and Hanji was more and more comfortable with his touches, him treating her like a girl, and she behaved more and more like a girl, especially when there were only two of them. He was quite confident that he had everything under control, and they would be there very soon.

He never dreamed that it would come out in this way not even in his worst nightmare. In front of everybody. Guys who he had defeated and laughed at and who had in turn laughed at his shortness and thus his 'lacking in manliness'. What would they joke now? That he was playing house with Hanji? Levi felt the earth was crumbling under his feet.

Everybody around the table was shocked. Nobody knew what to say or do, including Mike.

Hanji was the one who broke the silence. It took her some time, but Hanji did manage to turn towards Levi and told him, "I want thirty percent of everything you get from Mike," her voice calm but adamant.

Still red-faced and shocked, Levi could only say, "wha, what?"

"I want thirty percent," she repeated, "of what you get." The regular share a good agent got from their clients.

"Are you out of your mind?" Levi finally got the meaning of her words.

"On the contrary. You will be the one out of his mind if you think my contribution does not deserve the thirty percent." Hanji insisted.

Levi ruffled through his immaculately combed hair and the only thing he could say was, "You know that is not what this is all about."

"It is." Hanji pursed her lips tightly, and then said in a barely audible voice, "Levi, don't make me go out and prove that I deserve it."

"Come on, Hanji, come back to your senses, you know this is not what it is about." Levi did not realize how pleading his voice started to sound.

It slightly startled Hanji. She looked around, turning from Mike's dropping jaws to everybody's disbelieving face. Shadows of anger crawling back onto her eyes, converging into those slightly dilated pupils, "This is my sense. I want my thirty percent." her voice plain and hardened.

"Hanji, think with your heart, not just with that brilliant mind. You know this is not what it is about." Levi said frustratingly, hands reaching for hers.

Hanji's body froze for a short moment, then she pulled herself back together, shrugged Levi's hands off, and shook her head, "you just do not get it, do you?" Turning her back against Levi, she headed towards the door, "I thought I was your partner, and you, you treat me like a groupie."

"Groupie?" He treated her like a groupie? She had no idea how he treated her? It might be a damn cliche, but he swore he treated her better than the apple of his eye, better than anything in this whole damn world. She had no fucking clue of it? Frustrated, Levi pulled the cravat off his neck and slapped it onto the table, "are you fucking out of your damned mind?"

Those angry and bitter words stopped Hanji in her track, she chuckled nervously and threw the words over her shoulder before slamming the door behind her, "you just want me to show how wrong you are, don't you?"


	3. Chapter 3--Levi vs Moblit

So this was all she could come up? Was she serious about showing him wrong? Levi shook his head and shifted impatiently on the bench, looking across the makeshift rink at the girl who was fussing all over the blonde young man like a mother hen. Moblit Banner. The guy who was barely older than a high school boy but already had the girls in the Scout Legion screaming about how handsome he was.

So this was the best she could come up with?

She did volunteer herself, but Levi refused to take her as an opponent, claiming that he would never raise his hands towards a girl, not even her.

She was furious and determined.

Levi was surprised that almost everybody said no to Hanji when she ran around and asked for a partner, in fighting against him. All the guys who could not wait to get into the line to fight with him, had suddenly become "sick", "not feeling up to it" or simply "not interested". Erwin explained that it was called camaraderie or men's code of honor, or something like that. A concept that was foreign to him, but the only bright thing for him in those damn days.

Even after this, Levi was not surprised when Hanji dragged Moblit into the commons room and declared that boy wanted to challenge him. He knew that damn boy had a big crush on Hanji since he joined the Scouts. The way his face brightened up every time Hanji stooped to talk to him or the rumor about how hard he tried to get into her team. There was no way the boy would turn down anything Hanji's asked, not even it meant that he had to face the fury of the human kind's most formidable fighter. Levi understood. But did he have to follow Hanji around like a little puppy? Did she have to show him those close body fight moves in person when they "practiced"?

Levi's patience was worn down more quickly than he had imagined. Barely a week passed before he singled out Mike, the organizer of the event, and told him that "he wanted to get the fuck over with it as damn soon as possible."

Hanji fought violently against the new arrangement, saying "it is not fair, leaving them no time to prepare."

"If she is as fucking good as she believes, and her contribution is so damn important, Moblit does not need any fucking training to kick my damn sorry ass." Levi knew the words were harsh but his heart was bleeding and his damn idiot girl had no fucking idea of it.

Hanji took her words back and here they were. The bench had never felt so damn lonely. It seemed to be twice as long as it was before. It might be true, because Hanji was not on the bench with him any more. The first time that Hanji was not at his side, running back and forth, fussing over him, giving him last minute unsolicited advice about the various weaknesses of his opponents, and the best moves to defeat them. Instead she was talking to the boy with the golden hair, laughing, patting him on the shoulder, on the opposite side of the rink. The gold framed glasses he gave her was long gone from her face. He had not seen her wear them since the night that they "quarreled", in its place were her old pair of worn-out cracked goggles, which made her face look incredibly ridiculous.

They had barely talked for weeks, and every time they ran into each other in the hallways, she would just turn around and march off in the opposite direction, right in front of his eyes. Levi sighed.

He had got enough of the nonsense. He wanted it done as soon as possible. He would make it an easy match. Knocking the boy out in the first round and making it the end. He would let the boy walk away easily. It did not make him look good in Hanji's eyes if he beat up an opponent who could barely put up a fight. The whole purpose of the match was to show Hanji how stupid she was so things would go back to normal.

Levi stood up impatiently from the bench and stepped forward towards the rink, motioning to Mike on the sideline that he was ready. Mike took the notice and waved at Moblit, time for him to step forward.

The boy, still dazed from all the attention he was getting, could barely stood up from the bench. Perhaps he was telling Hanji that he was just too nervous. He could have fooled Levi as well if he did not see his knees shaking. Levi was smirking to himself when he saw Hanji standing up on her toes, and giving the boy a quick peck on the cheek.

Levi was furious.

What was the damn woman doing?

That was their thing, their ritual before each match. Levi might have blushed, might have protested, but he knew and so did Hanji, how important it was to him and how special it made him feel. Was she out of her damn mind?

It was like a blurr. He did not realize that he was beating a downed opponent into pulp before Mike and Nanaba jumped into the ring and restrained him, with Hanji screaming at him, trying very hard to get the swollen faced blonde boy up onto his limping legs.

That damn boy was lucky that the three got into the rink in time. He was still alive but had to spend the following three weeks in the infirmary, which was more than everything the green-faced boy had ever asked for-because Hanji, the Scout Legion's own version of doctor and nurse combined, fussed over him, day and night.

Levi got the money from Mike. All sixty-seven percent of it. The cut that Hanji had fought so hard for. Their cut. His now. He went to the fancy Hair Salon in the Capital city by himself. He almost paid for the shampoo they had picked out together before he realized, there were no "them" any more and ran out to sit on the stone stairs leading away from the shop. Sitting there fuming, fuming over how the damn pitiful loser got all the attention, while he, the indisputable winner, had to crawl all the way back into his own miserable lair, licking his own wounds.


	4. Chapter 4--Levi vs MikeZ

Then the rumor reached him. Everybody was talking about how the boy got carried away and confessed his "undying" love to Hanji and how Hanji got all startled and clumsily blurted out that it was not her intention and she never thought of him in that way.

The boy was devastated.

Levi was in an incredibly good mood. He took the long way down the halls, passing by the infirmary, playing out aloud in head what he would say if he "happened" to run into her. Did she miss him? Did she realize how stupid this entire mess was?

He found her near the stables, on her way to meet him, dragging his next supposed opponent, Mike, along.

Levi was shocked. He could never believed that Mike, the person who instigated the whole mess at the first place, would ever agree to fight on Hanji's side.

Neither did Mike. He later admitted that he had no other choice. Hanji had threatened to report his girlfriend to the Military Police. He did not care what it meant for his military career, and his girl was not a real prostitute. But those corrupted pigs from the Military Police would not care. To them, it was a good chance to recover some of the money they had lost in the bets, and maybe even make a small fortune out of it.

Levi almost sympathized with him. Mike made it very clear that he had no intention to fight him let alone winning against him. He had also apologized for that night on many different occasions. It was all because of alcohol and the heat of the argument. He was just throwing Hanji's accusation back at herself. He thought that it might cause some disturbance between the two love birds, but it would be just a "lover's quarrel" at most and he had never expected this kind of reaction from her.

Levi almost forgave him, if the damned Viking giant was able to restrain from commenting "you were never able to get into her pants, were you?" That damned smirk on his face.

The bastard, Levi spit into the dirt ground before raising his eyes up to stare at the huge man at the other side of the rink, who had kept his arm out for the last twenty minutes, making sure Levi knew that he tried his best to keep his distance from that noisy blabbering brown hair woman at his side.

You had better. Levi scowled at him. If that damn fool think he would let him off easy, he had completely miscalculated his fury. It was all because of that idiot. Levi bit onto his lower lip and stomped his right feet. It was all because the idiot had to get it even. Now it was time for him to teach the bastard a lesson and the real meaning of the words "getting it even".

Levi knew it would not be an easy fight, but he did not expect it could be this bad. It did not take Mike long to realize that Levi had no intention of just putting up a show and letting him off easily. The blonde giant got furious and made everybody know that he was not an easy target to pick on. Levi had to move constantly as fast as he could to counter off Mike's height and size advantage.

At first, it was not easy to steal just one kick or punch on the big guy. When they did land on the big guy, they just bounced off as if he was made of rubber, leaving no dent. But gradually Mike slowed down. It became harder and harder for him to fend off Levi's lightning attacks which seemed to be coming from all directions, swirling around him.

Punches and kicks rained down on him, pounding into the heavy giant as if he was an old torn tire, tumbling in a tornado. At the end, a kick in the back of his right knee did it. His heavy body fell to the dirt ground as if it was filled with lead, giving out a big loud thud that shook the ground and jerked everybody to their feet.

Mike had to be carried off the grounds. His shrieks of pain from the infirmary was the only thing that kept Levi in good mood when he tore the blood stained clothes carefully off his wounds and nursed them alone.

At least Hanji was having a blast of time tormenting the fallen giant.


	5. Chapter 5--Levi vs Erwin Smith

Mike sure was a formidable opponent, strong enough to land a few serious blows on him. Sharp pains shot up from his side. He might have a couple of broken ribs. But it was nothing new. He had dealt with wounds much worse before and it should be no different this time.

The difference was that damn crazy woman did not give him enough time to heal. Barely two days later, when Mike was still moaning loudly in his sickbed in the infirmary, Hanji pulled Nanaba, Mike's appointed lieutenant for the fight club, into his room, and declared his next opponent was to be, their squad leader, Erwin.

"I can't fucking believe what I have just fucking heard," Levi was furious when he kicked open the door to Erwin's office, "Are you that damn fucking eager to fight me?"

"Hanji asked." Erwin smiled, but his poker face was still as difficult to decipher as always.

"So you fucking agreed?" he hate that nonchalance attitude of his leader, imagining cutting that stupid smile off with his blade.

"I owed her one, " Erwin nodded, "without her tips on how to beat you, I could not have reined you in and brought you to the Scout Corps in the first place. Besides, I also think this will be the best for all."

"Best for what?" Levi shook his head, trying to talk some sense into his leader, "it is fucking none of your damned business."

"Levi, " Erwin asked as if amused, "you still have not got it, do you?"

"Got fucking what?" Levi was startled by his leader's comment.

"Sometimes winning is not all," Erwin sighed. He did not blamed Levi. Probably no one had ever talked to him about it.

"What are you fucking talking about?" Levi was even more confused. From where he came from, winning was all it was about. You fight, you win or you lose. It was that simple. The winner takes it all. The money, the profit, the right to live, and the girl. No women would ever want a loser. It was that simple.

"In the matters of…hmm..hmm, " Erwin felt it hard to put them into words. Providing relationship guidance for his subordinates was never his forte, but Levi was different, he was too valuable as a fighting asset for the Scouts and and as a personal friend, Erwin sighed, "In the matters of heart, there is no real winning. Sometimes the only way to win is by losing."

Erwin's words gave the furious Levi something else to do other than fuming. Thinking. He had been thinking a lot lately. About losing. About winning. About Hanji. Was that the reason that Moblit who was still lying in the infirmary and bickering with Mike everyday got all the caring attention from her?

Did Erwin mean that he should fake a loss so Hanji would change her mind and start fussing about him for a change? Staring across the rink at the big blonde guy joking and laughing with the brown haired woman in those damned stupid shitty glasses, Levi could think of nothing else.

But what was Erwin doing? What was all the touching, hugging and laughing about? Erwin had known Hanji for a long time, even before she joined the Scouts. They were some sort of cousins. The rumors even had them grow up together. But what was all this blatant show of intimacy? Erwin had never shown any romantic interest in Hanji, as far as he knew, so that could not be the case.

Was all the fucking losing or winning talk just to get him loosen up his guard? Hanji had once mentioned that the leader was a great strategist, and would do anything to secure a win.

Ruffling her hair? What was that damned fucking big blonde smart-ass thinking? She was not a three year old child any more! When you are grown-ups, there are boundaries to follow!

If he thought that was way out of the boundaries, nothing would have prepared him for the kiss Erwin gave her before stepping forward towards the rink. It was a quick one, as light as a peck but it was on her lips. Hanji did not even notice it, probably too focused on her busy non-stop chattering. But Levi still felt someone had run a three feet long sword through the center of his back.

Hanji loved to wash his face with her saliva when she was excited and he liked kissing her on the cheeks, her ears and sometimes even on the back of her neck, but never on the lips. She was not comfortable with physical touches, Levi knew better than rushing it.

All the thoughts made it hard for Levi to focus on the fight. It was like the first one between them, just ten times more intense. His broken ribs made it difficult for Levi to bend sideways, so it was hard to duck out of Erwin's well calculated attacks. That damned bastard. All the winning and losing stuff was just a talk, a diversion after all.

Levi was frustrated and crazed. He could not continue this awkward ducking and being forced by Erwin's attacks to run all over the rink. He had to change strategy. He could no longer depend on his agility and had to use his speed in an unfamiliar manner. His ribs hurt but he could still take a couple of direct hits. The very short moment after the punches started to land and before them get stale, when Erwin's attention was most relaxed. He should focus on those moments, focus on taking advantage of them and hitting him back as hard as he could.

The crowd was shocked. They had seen him mad, they had seen him crazy, but nobody had ever seen him fighting so ruthless and desperate. As if he was trying to hang on to something so precious, something more important than his life. No defense, no ducking, taking the blunts of the hits straight on with his body and dealing out furious attacks as fast as he could. The punches and the kicks were thrown at such a high speed that the crowd could only see the blur of his arms and legs.

Soon Erwin had to back off from attacks and could barely fend off all the ferocious strikes from Levi, leaving him no choice but to extricate himself from it.

It took him a lot of ducking, fending, jumping around, before he managed to move over to the edge of the rink, throw in his towel and claim, "I give up! You win!", leaving a bewildered Levi, covered in dirt, sweat, and blood from head to toe, in the middle of the empty rink.

A few moments later. Back in her infirmary. Sitting on her stool, Hanji was shocked and confused about what to do with the sorry mess of a person that Erwin left in her charge.


	6. Chapter 6--The loser takes it all

It was a crazy match. The loser walked off with barely any scratches, dumped the winner who could barely walk in her infirmary and demanded Hanji to "get him well-we need him in fighting shape."

They hadn't talked for over a month. She felt uneasiness started to pool up in her stomach before she could check out his wounds.

Hanji decided that she was furious. Not so much at the losses her side had suffered, three in a row. More for the purple and blue mess sitting in front of her on the infirmary bed.

"Are you out of your mind? What do you wanted? Look at the mess you are in. Does the win worth it?" Hanji's voice choked up while she assessed the damage left by the brute force hits the well muscled body took in.

Levi almost shuddered when Hanji poked at his left side to check out the ribs. Her touch on his body was gentle, as it always had been. How he missed it. The pains were ten times more miserable when he had to nurse the wounds himself. After he joined the scouts, it was always Hanji's job to dress up his wounds whenever he got injured. All he ever did was complaining how rough and noisy she was and ordering her to shut up.

He missed it all. The gentle touch, the endless babbling, the stupid jokes she awkwardly came up with to distract him from the pain.

"Four broken ribs. One in three pieces. You heal fast, but it will take at least two or three weeks. Are you out of your mind?" Hanji started to poke him furiously on the ribs in his good side and continued, "You always said that I am the one who is crazy. Now who has jumped over the edge? Is the winning so sweet that it is worthy of everything?"

There was not much she could do for the broken ribs now. Hanji sighed and picked up a cotton ball soaked in iodine, focusing on cleaning up the scrapings left by the direct hits. "Oh, Geez, how many punches did you take? Three hundred or four hundred? A miracle that you are still alive. Do they hurt?"

From the way Levi scowling at the her touches, Hanji got the confirmation she needed. After a long sigh, Hanji stopped in the middle of the babbling, looked up from her hands, and asked, "what can I do? what I am supposed to do for all this?" Her voice was full of frustration. She was almost in tears.

Levi was caught by surprise. His thoughts were sliding with the soft fingers across his skin when she suddenly stopped. The gentle touch he had missed so much. Words just blurted out of his mouth before he was fully aware what Hanji had asked, "I missed you."

Hanji could not believe what she had just heard. Her lower jaw dropped, turning her mouth into a big "O".

After catching her reaction, Levi repeated, "I missed you." This time, he made every word as clear as they could be.

Hanji's face blushed. She lowered her head again, pretending she was busy with dressing up his wounds. She could have fooled him if her trembling fingers did not give away.

Levi sighed, raised his hands over to cover hers, and repeated softly, "I missed you. A lot. Do you miss me?"

The truth was always hard to acknowledge but even harder to deny. Hanji wanted to shook her head vehemently, but stopped in the middle, raised her head up slowly, and lowered it just a little, barely half way back. A nod so slight that it was hardly noticeable, but enough for Levi. He swung his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug.

Rattled by the sudden out-pour of affection, Hanji squirmed a little in Levi's arms. He gave out a very loud uncharacteristic wimpy outcry and complained, "Geez, that really hurts!"

Startled by his response, Hanji's body froze, not even a single finger daring to move. Levi never complained about pains, not even after he broke his femur on their first recon trip outside the wall.

This must hurt a lot. Or she must have hurt him very terribly and very deeply. Oh, God. "Sorry, I am so sorry. It was all because I was too…" Her voice and body trembling as if in a silent fit of crying.

"Stop." Levi held her even tighter, "Don't say it. It is not you. I am…" Levi wanted to apologize, but the "sorry" word was just so damned hard to come out. He mumbled along for a while before he found the best two words he could say, "fifty percent."

"What? Fifty percent of what?" Hanji was a little startled.

"Fifty percent of everything I get." Levi's voice was calm, almost peaceful.

"Fifty percent?" surprised by Levi's proposal, Hanji kept on babbling, "even the best agents usually get only thirty to thirty five percent."

"You are not my agent." Levi sighed.

"Neither do wives get that much out of their husbands' estates." Nervous Hanji blurted out, her eyes twinkling.

"I know. You always complained how unfair that was," Levi said with a smirk.

Embarrassed by the slight trace of amusement in Levi's voice, Hanji's face blushed, "Don't laugh. It is not just me. All the famous female activists and philosophers, like Madame Rigdity, and Ms Hilaelius, they all were against it and fought very hard about it."

"Yep. I remember your blabbering about them," Levi snorted, "it is hard to forget how those stupid women fought for the fifty percent, when they could damn well have it all, all hundred percent of it."

"That is because the stupid men refuse to treat them as equal." Hanji's eyes sparkled. She grinned-her signature big grin, the one that spanned from one ear to the other.

Levi chuckled, glad that she had finally returned to her normal self. Squeezing her gently with his arms, he asked, "which one do you want? Fifty percent or a hundred?"

Shifting herself up onto Levi's laps, Hanji put her arms around him, careful not to hurt his broken ribs, and claimed, "I want fifty percent," her face smiling, her eyes sparkling, "and I want the hundred percent, do you have any problem of it?"

Levi let out a short hearty laugh, "no, if that is what you want," before planting his lips firmly onto hers.


End file.
